The role of resonant ear canal thermal noise pressure on the eardrum in helping to determine auditory thresholds

The influence of thermal pressure fluctuations on the tympanic membrane has been re-examined as a possible contributing determinant of the threshold of human hearing over the range of audible frequencies. The early approximate calculation of Sivian and White [1] is shown to result in higher values of thermal noise pressure on the tympanium of a model meatus than the result obtained by directly calculating the noise pressure from thermally excited resonant ear canal modes. \\[4pt] [1] L.J. Sivian and S.D. White, ``Minimum audible sound fields,'' J. Acoust. Soc. Am. \textbf{4}, 288-321 (1933).